


Downpour

by ceilingfan5



Category: DRAMAtical Murder - All Media Types
Genre: Gift Fic, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Phobias, Thunderstorms, extra fluffy with a side of dicks, ten points if you guess what anime influenced me a lot in my formative weeb years
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-13
Updated: 2015-07-13
Packaged: 2018-04-09 02:38:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4330635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceilingfan5/pseuds/ceilingfan5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Noiz's fear of thunderstorms interrupts their first anniversary vacation, but Aoba knows just the thing to calm him down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Downpour

**Author's Note:**

  * For [coolangelsthesis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/coolangelsthesis/gifts).



> This is a (very very very) late birthday present for Sam (coolangelsthesis on here, vurtkonnegut on tumblr) and Adrian (princekisses on tumblr). Special thanks to Adrian for beta reading and crying for me. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

"Why did you have to get such a fancy hotel room?" Aoba crossed his arms petulantly. "Or a hotel room at all?" 

Noiz leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, just to watch the color rise in them. 

"Does a man need a reason to spoil his husband?" 

The blush darkened.

"Yes- I- no, well-"

Noiz grinned, going in for a second one, but Aoba quickly pushed him off before the flight attendant could admonish them again for Gratuitous Public Displays of Affection. 

"We're going back to Japan. Can't we just stay in my room at Granny's?"

Noiz rolled his eyes, immediately putting Aoba on the defensive. 

"What? You don't want to stay there? We're going to see her anyway!"

"I wanted a room to go back to." Aoba stared him down. "A private room, alright?" 

Aoba spluttered. 

"You mean-"

"Damn right I do."

"Noiz-!" He exclaimed, immediately getting shushed by the flight attendant once again. They were making no friends on this plane. "Noiz!" he whispered, with nearly the same amount of intensity. "You- We can't just-"

"We can and we will. We can do anything you like. See the sights, go to the beach, fuck like rabbits-"

"Noiz!" 

He stared back at his husband. 

"What, you don't want to?"

Aoba blushed. 

"No, I- I do, I do! I just- You can't just- say things like that-"

Noiz adopted the kind of tone one might use with a rather dim child.

"Aoba. I love you. I don't see any reason to hide it."

Aoba about hit him, but settled for stuttering out a pathetic protest before kissing him so passionately that they almost missed the seat belt warning for their descent. Being with Noiz was like that, sometimes. Practically all the time, if Aoba was honest with himself.

Noiz held his hand all the way to the baggage claim, and gave the excuse that he didn't want his husband to get lost. Aoba blushed and complained and adored it. They had to bring their own luggage on the tiny plane to Midorijima, which Noiz, used to flying first class, wasn't happy about, but luckily the plane was practically empty and there were no flight attendants to criticize them for making out. The puddle jumper left the mainland faster than it took to find their bags and before they knew it, they were piercing the clouds over Aoba's former home. 

"Wow..." he whispered, pressing his face to the window. "Look, you can see the remnants of Platinum Jail!" 

Noiz smiled and tried not to look as queasy as he felt. 

"What's wrong with you?" Aoba turned his head to see him, red marks on his face from the cold window. Noiz laughed.

"Nothing, just the turbulence."

Aoba rolled his eyes.

"It's not that bad."

"Can I hold onto you, then?" He smirked and leaned in for a kiss.

"Oh, don't! We're almost there!"

"I thought this was supposed to be like our honeymoon."

Aoba folded his arms. 

"What, our third? We've only been married for a year."

Noiz stole the kiss he wanted and smiled at him. 

"Isn't that enough reason for celebration?"

Aoba couldn't help but smile, threading his fingers with Noiz's and kissing him back. 

"Yeah...I guess it is." 

They held onto each other as the tiny plane descended and didn't separate until they were back on the island where it all started. 

Aoba flopped onto the fancy hotel bed and tried not to think of the last time he was in such an expensive room. It was too early to think about that sort of thing, or maybe too late? He checked his coil for the time and the weather report but was distracted by Noiz jumping into bed next to him, ready to snuggle up for a long night or day of well-deserved sleeping off of jet-lag.

They woke up, tangled together and too warm, many hours later. Aoba yawned and ran a hand through Noiz's messy hair, appreciating the smell of his favorite shampoo. No matter how many times they bought Noiz his own, he always preferred to use his husband's, partially out of childishness and partially out of attachment. As much as he chided him about it, he didn't really mind. It was sort of nice, really, especially in the small hours between them waking up and Noiz going to work. Aoba wasn't usually a morning person, but that sort of thing almost made it worth it. 

He leaned forward and gave his husband a tiny kiss on the head.

"Wakey-wakey."

"Nnnhh."

"Time to get up."

"We're on vacation. Let’s sleep forever." Noiz snuggled even closer to Aoba, pressing his face as far up his husband's armpit as it would go. Aoba yelped and pushed him away.

"Fuck! I don't care, I'm hungry and I'm awake and we should get up."

"One more hour."

"No."

"Two more hours?"

"Definitely not."

Noiz groaned. 

"It's morning back home," Aoba said, a little softer.

"You are home."

Aoba thought something so embarrassing that Noiz felt him flush and had to make eye contact with him.

"What."

Aoba got even redder. 

"Nothing. Shut up."

Noiz grinned. 

"Tell me." He had to know.

"No!"

"It was something cute, wasn't it?" Noiz wasn’t going to give up any time soon.

Aoba stared pointedly at the bathroom door.

"It- I just...thought...home is...where we are together."

"Oh my god." Noiz grinned and sat up just so he could more easily look Aoba in the face. "You love me, don't you!"

Aoba promptly kicked him off the bed. 

"Of course I love you, you dumbass! We're married!"

"Aoba looooves me!" Noiz sing-songed, and their morning, or, rather, late afternoon, fight for the bathroom began anew. 

When they left the hotel, the sky revealed a beautiful day with hardly a cloud in sight. It was warm and a little humid and Aoba hoped his hair didn't look as poofy as it felt. The couple held hands no matter how their palms sweated. It was easy to get lost in a crowd now that the developed part of the island where their hotel stood was open to everyone and, in all honesty, they liked sticking close to each other. The risk of literally sticking to one another, however, grew as the day went on and the pavement grew hotter and hotter. Hoping to cool off, they looked into the open air boutiques. They bought matching silly sun hats and they took pictures in them for their vacation log. Aoba had to hide a smile when Noiz set his favorite as his coil background. 

"At this rate, you'll be changing it every day!" he'd said, watching him switch out the picture of them posing near a lobster in a mariachi costume.

"I can put it on a cycle," Noiz had said, taking their happy memories very seriously.

They visited landmarks, pointing out Glitter and the remnants of Oval Tower. The foreign company that was working on the area had already cleaned up a lot of the rubble, but it still left a funny feeling in their stomachs to see it wiped off the surface of the Earth. They had risked and lost and gained so much there, and now it was nothing more than a memory. A minute of reflection was too much. 

After that, they got ice cream.

A few clouds offered a small reprieve from the glaring heat as they toured the market, trying on accessories and sunglasses, playing with new gadgets and, Aoba’s favorite, people-watching. Noiz had never heard of it before, but he was used to the idea of keeping an eye on strangers and it didn't take him long to catch on to Aoba’s game. 

"Look at that woman in the bright pink dress," Aoba whispered. 

"With the knockoff butterfly allmate?" Noiz wrinkled his nose, watching her.

"Yeah, look how big her mouth is."

Noiz laughed. 

"I'll bet you she could fit her whole fist in there," Aoba added, "but she won't, ‘cause it'll smudge her terrible orange lipstick."

"I can fit my fist in my mouth." Noiz grinned. 

"Why does that not surprise me."

"Because you have a lot of opinions about me that may or may not be true." He winked. Aoba snickered. 

"May? When's the last time you did it?"

Noiz shrugged. 

"It's been a while."

"I'll bet you can't do it anymore." Aoba folded his arms. "It hurts." 

"So you've tried?" Noiz's expression grew even more impish. Aoba reddened immediately.

"Who hasn't?"

"I'll bet you'd say that about a lot of things." Noiz wrapped his arms around his husband's middle, enjoying the squeaky noise he made. Even in the heat, it was satisfying to touch him. 

As they discussed whether to see a movie or visit a different shopping district, the clouds began to roll in in earnest with the sunset. The humidity thickened, but the temperature dropped a little, and for that at least Aoba was thankful. Noiz, however, didn’t look happy.

Aoba nudged him, watching him anxiously fiddle with a weather app on one of his bunny cubes. 

“Babe, what’s wrong?” He asked quietly, knowing Noiz wouldn’t welcome the attention. 

“Nothing.” He minimized the app immediately. “How about that movie?”

“Are you sure?” Aoba wondered if he should be worried, or if it really was nothing. It was hard to tell with him. “You said you didn’t want to sit in the dark for two hours.”

“Changed my mind. Let’s go.”

He took Aoba’s arm and changed directions, heading quickly for the Cinneplex they’d seen earlier. It was a bit of a walk now, but with luck, they could probably catch the next show time. And it had been a while since their last movie date, playing footsie under the seats and laughing at the cheesy acting of a bad foreign film. It would be so nice to watch a movie in Japanese again too, on a big screen instead of a computer or a coil. His German was coming along nicely, but it still wasn’t good enough to watch a movie past about PG without peppering his husband with dozens of irritating questions. 

“Sure,” he said, and let himself be whisked away.

“What should we see?” he finally asked when they got close enough to see the lights. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too crowded.

“Doesn’t matter,” Noiz said with a shrug. “You pick.”

“How about....” Aoba grinned. “Stickykeys.”

Noiz laughed. 

“That fucking awful hacker movie? The one where they share the keyboard to hack into the, the Pentagon or whatever? No way am I paying money to see that.” 

“As if your money has that much value to you anyway.” Aoba teased.

“For that it does. I can’t support a film that still uses CDs.”

“More like you’d fucking laugh the whole time and get us kicked out of the theater!” Aoba hit him on the shoulder. Noiz just laughed harder. 

“Absolutely true. We can pirate it later.”

“Oh! Pirates is a good idea. There’s the one with, I think it’s called Swords VS Guns?” It had been ages since he’d seen new trailers. Noiz had blocked all the advertisements on his coil, and it was nice, but it did leave him feeling out of the loop. “It has famous people in it.”

“That got bad reviews.”

“You’re a walking bad review! You just want to see Lop-Eared Cuddle Bunnies like all the other four year olds!”

Noiz’s head swiveled so hard his neck popped. 

“Is that a thing?” 

“Oi, don’t hurt yourself!” Aoba stepped back. “I don’t know. I made it up. Why don’t you just look up the movie schedule?”

“Because-” A loud crack of thunder never gave him the chance to finish his excuse. His face turned about as green as his favorite accessories and his relaxed body language disintegrated. He seemed to close in on himself, pulling his limbs close and away from Aoba. 

Aoba had no idea what to do. He’d never seen Noiz like this, or at least not without a warning. A small room or a locked door or an enclosed space might make him nervous, but they were in the open air, away from anything that might set off his claustrophobia. This had to be something else.

“Noiz?” He reached for him, but Noiz pulled away, wringing his hands and tugging his sleeves down over his sensitive palms. 

“On second thought, let’s go back to the hotel.”

“No movie?” Aoba asked softly, not wanting to upset him further. 

“Let’s just- Let’s get out of here. Can we- Let’s just...” Noiz turned away, afraid to show his face. He wasn’t supposed to find out. This could ruin their whole vacation, and he had worked a lot of overtime to make it happen. Or worse, it could ruin something much more important. He ran his thumb over his ring and clenched his teeth. 

“Let’s at least buy an umbrella. It looks like it’s going to-” Aoba stopped abruptly when Noiz bolted, illuminated by a spectacular crack of lightning. He gasped and stared, startled into freezing to the spot. In a moment of poetic meteorological fate, the heavens split open and began to dump the clouds that had been gathering all day. 

“Fuck!” he shouted, collecting himself an instant too late. He pulled the hood of his jacket over his hair and chased after Noiz like his life depended on it. So much for their cloudless day.

He checked alley after alley, peeking into little cafes and internet hotspots, but Noiz wasn’t in any of them. With each passing second, he got wetter and more worried. The storm only grew in intensity. It had never rained this hard this early the year before. A freak storm like this just had to be bad luck. 

Exhausted, freezing, and terrified, he returned to their hotel. If Noiz wasn’t here, he had no idea what to do. The island police were still a joke and there were any number of places Noiz could have disappeared to, disoriented and afraid. 

Aoba swallowed and tried not to think about that.

It was good to be out of the rain, even with the dirty look the doorman gave him. No matter how long he lived with one, he wasn’t sure he’d ever really fit in with rich people. Especially looking like a drowned kitten that had just tumbled in off the street. 

Their room was dark and quiet and panic instantly gripped Aoba’s stomach. What if he wasn’t here? What if he was lost somewhere out in that storm? As hard as it was pounding against the picture windows, it had to be brutal for any poor bastard still stuck in the streets.

He checked under the bed, in the bed, in the closet. Nothing. Terror ran his veins as cold as his soaked sweatshirt. How could something like this happen? And on their sort-of-honeymoon, no less. 

“What did we do to deserve this?” he asked aloud to the empty room. He kicked an empty trashcan worth more than his shoes and tried not to cry. If he was going to go out there again, he should at least clean up and put on something dry and warm. He tugged at his wet shorts, chewing his lip. They may have to come off with pliers.

He opened the bathroom door.

He nearly slammed it shut in surprise. Instead, his hand just clenched the gold hardware. Why hadn’t he checked the bathroom? What kind of idiot was he? What kind of husband was he?

“Noiz!” 

His jaw felt like it was magnetically attracted to the ground floor, but he hoped he didn’t look as shocked as he felt. Because Noiz looked terrified. Curled up in the bathtub, he was shaking and holding onto his knees for dear life. His outfit was just as soaked as Aoba’s and his hair dripped steadily down his face, mingling with tears and snot.

“Holy shit,” he whispered. “Noiz.”

It took him a second to register the intrusion, to recognize Aoba, to realize what was happening. His eyes widened. This was so bad. This was so, so bad. 

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Aoba’s voice cracked, his worry bleeding through. “What happened? Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

Noiz shrunk even further, threatening to collapse in on himself like a black hole. Figuring the hotel wouldn’t want to deal with that sort of thing, Aoba switched tactics. 

He knelt gently in front of the bathtub and held his hands out to Noiz, soft and open. 

He stared at them, almost daring to push him away. 

Another building-shaking clap of thunder drove him straight into his husband’s arms. 

Aoba hugged him as tightly as he could. It was a wet, cold, heavy, hug, but he couldn’t remember the last one that had felt so important, as vital as oxygen. He didn’t want to let go. He wasn’t sure he could. Noiz’s quiet sobs and tremors shook them both, but shared between two bodies, they weren’t so violent anymore. 

An eternity passed before he calmed down enough to talk, and his words still shook like the storm could reach him through the hotel walls. His confidence and aggression were gone, washed out in the rain and left behind in the streets. 

Aoba helped him sit up on the edge of the bathtub.

“You’re afraid of thunderstorms,” he whispered. 

Noiz nodded. 

“We’ve been together so long and I’ve never seen you-”

“I didn’t-” He wrung his hands together. “I didn’t want you to find out.”

“Why not?” For a second, Aoba was offended. Was he not trustworthy enough? Not close enough? They were married! They weren’t supposed to have any secrets! 

But the way Noiz stared at the bathroom tile, like a scared child about to be scolded, stopped him in his tracks. This wasn’t about him. 

He waited patiently for Noiz to continue. 

“I thought...you’d leave.” He rubbed his face. “I thought you’d treat me like a little kid, or...or laugh...”

Aoba swallowed guilt. At least he hadn’t said anything. 

“It’s stupid-” Noiz took a deep breath, nearly choking on it. “I know it’s fucking stupid. But...But every time I go through a thunderstorm, I’m back there, and I’m alone, and I don’t know what to do-” He gripped the edge of the bathtub, failing to control the shaking. “It’s so dark, and empty, and-”

Aoba hugged him tightly again, nearly knocking him off his perch. He could imagine that little blonde boy, trapped and alone and afraid. No one ever told him it was going to be okay or held him through a storm or explained how thunder was “angels bowling” or something silly to lighten the mood. It was confusing and scary and maybe it seemed simple enough to someone lucky enough to grow up with a person who cared about him, but for someone like Noiz, it was no surprise that this brought back memories that no one should face alone. 

“It’s not stupid, Noiz,” he whispered. “And I’m sorry you’ve had to do this by yourself for so long.”

Noiz waited for him to laugh, to call him childish, to take his ring off and scream that he couldn’t do this anymore, but he didn’t. Instead, Aoba pulled a fluffy monogrammed towel off of the rack and wrapped it around Noiz’s shoulders, smiling like everything was going to be okay.

Maybe it would. 

“We need to get out of these wet clothes.” 

“Great idea.” 

“You perv, I mean so we don’t freeze to death.” Aoba flicked water at him, secretly glad he sounded a little more like himself again. “Besides, you ought to get out of that bathtub. It probably isn’t helping.”

Noiz shrugged. His head was buzzing so much that it was hard to tell what he was feeling. The thunderstorm hadn’t stopped, but having something else to focus on was helping a little. Aoba pulled him to his feet and helped him step onto the tile. He was still unsteady and shaking and every time something outside rumbled, he moved a little closer to Aoba. He was still afraid.

But he was no longer alone.

They took turns peeling their clothes off and flinging them into the bathtub. The wet fabric made a satisfying SLAP against the ornate tile and it was one less mess for them or housekeeping to worry about later. Aoba carefully hung their shoes up over the shower curtain rod to dry. He’d probably have to take a hair dryer to them later, but now there were more important things to do.

“You know what I used to do when I was scared?” 

Noiz shivered and pulled the towel close, hoping Aoba wasn’t about to patronize him. 

“You...smoked a lot of weed?”

Aoba flushed. 

“You can’t prove that!” 

Noiz cackled, already doing better. Pushing buttons was one of his favorite things to do, and Aoba just had so many. 

“Fine, fine, what did you do?” He watched Aoba grumpily towel off his hair. Imagined him shaking the water off like a big blue dog. He covered a smile.

“I made a fort!” He ran out of the room, pulling open the drawer he’d found in his frantic search. Noiz followed, confused, and waited for an explanation as Aoba pulled out more blankets and pillows than anyone could ever need. 

“A fort?”

Grinning, Aoba looked up. He was terribly pleased with himself. 

“Yeah, you know, a pillow fort! It’s safe, and warm, and it’s fun to make, and it’s a great distraction, and then you can do fun stuff in the fort!”

Noiz stared at him. Completely naked, eager, holding mounds of blankets that had never been through something so childish and probably never would again. His face split into a smile, and then a chuckle, and then it tumbled out and he couldn’t stop and he laughed and he laughed and he laughed. 

It felt good. 

“What?” Aoba frowned, suddenly wondering if it was a bad idea.

“I’ve never-” Noiz gasped for air, holding his stomach. His towel drooped, losing its grip on his modesty. “I’ve never made a fort before.”

“You’re kidding!” Aoba folded his arms. Noiz just shook his head.

“Wasn’t exactly allowed. And the maids never let us play with the nice blankets.”

Aoba chewed his lip, thinking of that lonely child again. Every kid deserved to play, no matter what. Parents who could lock their kid away or leave forever and never come back, those were the real monsters.

“So let’s make your first fort.”

Another clap of thunder shook the windows. Noiz dug his nails into his palms and tried to keep it together. 

“Music. Let’s.” He took a deep breath. “Let’s listen to music.” 

Aoba nodded, connecting his coil to the speakers and putting on something nice and loud. Their neighbors could suck it up. Next, he closed the enormous curtains, hoping to block out a lot of the sound and the cold. He even turned the heater on, sure they’d regret it when the sun came back out, but for now, it was absolutely necessary. 

Noiz flopped on the blanket pile. 

“How do we do this?”

“You have to think like an architect. And get your naked ass off my building materials.”

“I firmly disagree. I am already very comfortable.”

Aoba yanked a blanket out from under him, sending him rolling halfway across the plush carpet. 

“You have to help me!”

Noiz shrugged and followed his lead. It was nice to have something to focus on. The softness of the blankets, the texture of the pillows, the curve of Aoba’s ass… 

Aoba chucked a pillow at his head. 

“Hey!” Noiz jumped back.

“Put that over there.”

“Here? But-”

“Trust me. I am a veteran fort-builder.” 

“Do you have a medal of honor for the battle of feather-down?” Noiz grumbled. 

Slowly, their lumpy pile of materials took shape into a lumpy castle. They squirreled snacks from the mini bar and a laptop and a few other fort essentials into the comfy palace. When it was finally ready, they crawled in and secured the flap. 

“Wow,” Noiz whispered.

“You’re damn right, wow.” Aoba puffed out his chest, his pride invisible in the dark. Noiz leaned against him and closed his eyes. It really did feel safe.

“I can hardly hear it out there...”

Aoba smiled. 

“I’m glad to hear that, Noiz.”

Aoba rolled onto his back, getting comfortable. He reached for the laptop, maybe to finally watch that movie and bring some light into their fort, but Noiz flopped on top of him.

“Oof!”

“Oof yourself.”

“How romantic.” Aoba laughed and wrapped his arms around him, nearly bumping heads in search of a kiss. Noiz moved closer to reciprocate. It was sweet and warm and familiar, just the right amount of exciting and safe. 

They found one another in the dark, intertwining fingers and stealing kiss after kiss. Breathless, Aoba appreciated that tongue piercing more and more with each pass, feeling the heat return to his skin wherever Noiz touched him. They were experts in each other’s bodies now, finding landmarks with their fingertips and kisses with ease. Noiz adored this, adored how it still felt special after all of this time. His skin tingled and it felt so good to know exactly where Aoba’s hands were and what designs they were tracing on his skin. Each sensation was a reminder that he was no longer a foreigner in his own body. 

This had to be what home was supposed to feel like.

Aoba sucked marks into his neck, each lighting a fire stronger than the last. Noiz could feel his blood in his own veins, he could feel Aoba’s hair and hot breath, his possessive grip on his shoulder, the other hand at his waist. Feelings rose up and clamored for his attention, spilling out his throat in little gasps and moans. There was no need for him to be quiet. 

“Great distraction,” he said, breathless, and Aoba laughed and kissed him again, almost missing his lips and hitting his nose.

“Can we-”

“I’ve got-”

“You do?”

Noiz nodded and reached next to their snack pile, a square foil package waiting to be found. 

“I love you,” Aoba said.

“I love you too,” Noiz replied, finding his lips before they could get lost somewhere else. He felt too much for words to hold. It seemed cheap to say them and expect them to do the job. There was so much he wanted Aoba to know, so much he had to share. But he didn’t know how to say it. 

“I love you,” he repeated. Aoba squeezed his hand. 

“Yeah.”

He kissed Aoba’s jaw, his cheek, his neck, struggling to pull himself away long enough to tear open the package and put the condom on. It was so good to be close. 

“Where’s the-”

“Got it.”

Noiz pushed a travel sized bottle of lubricant into Aoba’s reach. Aoba was a pro at this, and Noiz ached to watch him get ready, but he didn’t want to stop long enough to find a light. Besides, something about the darkness felt good. It was secure, safe from the thunder and the lightning that bled through the curtains. It was perfect. 

Aoba blushed, hoping the warmth in his cheeks wasn’t heating up the whole fort. 

“You didn’t buy this here, did you? This isn’t one of those kinds of hotels?”

Noiz laughed. They were about to screw in a blanket tent and this was what concerned him?

“Brought it with me.”

“You-!” 

“I told you I planned on fucking like rabbits.”

Aoba huffed, a little self-conscious and a little thrilled. And at least he was prepared. 

“Fine,” he said, and popped it open. 

Noiz grinned. He listened to the slick sounds, familiar enough with Aoba to know exactly what he was feeling. Hesitation, embarrassment, strain, pleasure, excitement… Their pulses quickened together. He couldn’t stand to be patient. 

“There,” Aoba breathed, blushing and satisfied with himself. “That should do.”

He barely had a chance to recap it before Noiz passionately kissed him again.

They found each other in the dark, thighs against thighs, hungry kisses and wandering hands. Noiz slowly pushed in and Aoba gasped, those amazing-wonderful-fantastic piercings a surprise no matter how many times he felt them. They moved together, nearly perfect, so familiar and right. Aoba’s nails dug into Noiz’s back, his fingers tugged at his hair, his hands pulled him closer, closer, closer. Noiz sunk into the sensation. This was all he wanted from the world. 

Finally, finally, it had given him something good. 

Noiz stroked him in time with his own movements, a jerky rhythm he could feel in his chest every time Aoba called out his name. He loved to hear it like that, all breathy and desperate and adoring. He would never get enough of his name tasting good in another person’s mouth. A song instead of a weapon. 

“Aoba,” he called back. “Aoba, you’re perfect.” 

Aoba moaned. 

“Aoba, you feel so good...” 

“Noiz-”

“Aoba-”

“Harder.”

He was happy to oblige. 

They pushed each other over the edge, matching in intensity and sighing praises, crying pleasure. They couldn’t stop kissing, couldn’t pull away from one another. It felt so right to be together.

Aoba laughed. It startled Noiz at first, but as Aoba threaded fingers through his hair and kissed him and laughed Noiz couldn’t help but join in. His stress melted away. He was safe.

He was home. 

They stayed like that, in naked embrace, for a while. Moving seemed exhausting, and there was something so comfortable about where they were, sticky or not. Tangled and happy. 

Noiz felt the words coming out of him, bubbling like an undersea volcano, before he registered what they were going to be or whether he ought to say them or even if they actually meant what he thought they should. He couldn’t help it, and maybe that was best. 

“I’ve never met anyone like you before.” He pressed his face to Aoba’s chest, chewing on the words that would have to come next. 

“What, with blue hair?” Aoba teased, not realising this was serious. Neither of them were good at serious. Laughter surprised Noiz again, interrupting his train of thought. 

“As unrivaled as your weird blue pubes are,” he started. Aoba dissolved into giggles, and Noiz felt the joy thump in his chest again. “That’s not it.”

“What, then?” He turned a little, looking at him. Realizing how useless that was, he let his head rest again, and held his hand instead. 

“You...” Noiz turned the words over in his mouth like a rock, unsure what he’d find crawling around underneath. “You care. About me.”

Surprised, Aoba let his mouth run before he thought about it. 

“Of course I care about you! We’re married!”

“You cared about me before we got married,” Noiz argued. “Before you knew me. And even when I left you.”

“That’s just what people do!” 

Noiz shook his head softly. 

“Not the people I know.”

Aoba stopped at that. It was definitely true. Noiz’s parents, people in the city, rhyme kids. How many people had Noiz met to never find someone who cared about him? How could a person go his whole life and never be treated like a human being?

He didn’t really know what to say to that.

He wanted to say, I’ll care enough for all of the people who should have. But that would be impossible. Maybe not even a good idea. There was no going back for those people, and it wasn’t his job to redeem them. 

He wanted to say, that’s just not normal, you’ll find people who will care about you, wait and see. But that may not be true. There were lots of nasty people in the world, no matter where you came from. Disgusting, unfeeling creatures lived in as many mansions as they did alleyways. 

This wasn’t something he could fix with a sentence or two. Years and years of abuse, of uncaring and unfeeling people at every corner, of hard lived, barely survived experience, could not be erased with a beautiful sentiment. That would be like putting a band-aid on a gaping wound. This was something that needed action, long and careful years of being there. Support. Love. Warm and steady, unwavering, devoted love. And that he could give him. 

He kissed him on the cheek.

“I’m glad I met you,” he said. And Noiz smiled. 

“Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this, I'd really appreciate feedback! The more I know people like what I write, the more likely I am to keep writing more of it. My tumblr and skype are both ceilingfan5 if you want to chat and I may even consider taking requests.


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